Vermont Youth Wrestling; A Wrestling Mom’s Perspective

Vermont Youth Wrestling; A Wrestling Mom’s Perspective

Wrestling Mom’s probably have one of the toughest jobs on the planet! They have to endure early morning departures, late evening returns, long grueling drives and tournaments that can last for the better part of a day or even several days. More often than not, they have to watch their sons or daughters – (that’s right – it’s a coed sport) bear

Coach Scott McPherson watches Ivy and Nicholas Forguites practice

the burden of defeat and sometimes injuries. Naturally, you ask, “Why would a mother subject herself to such punishment”?

However, once you get past the negatives and start to delve deeper into the benefits of the wrestling fraternity, you start to understand the whys and wherefores and realize that you – or your children – probably wouldn’t have it any other way!

Demonic, psychotic

Can go off like the A-Bomb,

Loving and caring – you guessed it

I’m a wrestler’s MOM!

I’ve met so many wrestling mom’s over the years and unlike most other sports – you become part of the fraternity. It’s the most individual team sport ever and the supporters are the greatest group of people on the planet – it’s a giant family! When I met Cathy, I thought I’d get a little personal and ask her about her feelings and intuitions since becoming involved in wrestling and becoming one of the wrestling mom’s.

My first question, although I think it might have been rhetorical, was why she wrote the article.

Wrestling Mom’s Shirt

Cathy – I didn’t know anything about wrestling when my kids started attending Colchester Cobra practices in 2014. My partner, Ann-Elise, saw a flyer at the kids’ Winooski school and thought it would be good exercise for our then-8-year-old son. But his 5-year-old sister watched him at a few practices and decided she wanted to do it, too. The coaches said they’d be happy to have her. We had no idea what to expect. I think we were all kind of surprised at how much the kids liked it, and how much Ann-Elise and I enjoyed watching them.

Since then I’ve come to realize how fortunate we were to stumble on the Colchester program. Our coaches are experienced, dedicated and passionate about the sport, which in my experience is somewhat rare in youth athletics (I’m thinking back to their early T-ball and soccer teams). The volunteers who put so much time into organizing our team do a fantastic job. And I see the same thing happening at wrestling clubs around the state. Volunteers make this whole operation possible for our K-6 kids. It’s a ton of work, and I’ve come to appreciate it tremendously. The people involved are from all walks of life, and from all across the state. They’re working together — without help from the schools — to drive this community. It’s an impressive effort.

And wrestling is a fascinating, dramatic sport, even at the K-6 level. You have all these little kids in their singlets facing off against each other, and the big bearded dudes in their corners shouting things at them like, “Be aggressive!” “Front trip!” “Build your base!” etc. Every tournament I get choked up — and not even when I’m watching my own kids! One of my son’s perennial opponents, who he’s befriended over the years, had a match last weekend that went into quadruple overtime. When he won, I had to wipe away tears. I get emotional watching two evenly matched wrestlers give everything they’ve got round after round. And when I see kids who are clearly overmatched but won’t give up. Even at that young age, you can see their fierce determination shining through. Honestly, I could probably write a book about it. There’s so much to say.

What intrinsic values does wrestling promote that boys and girls can use as life skills

Kids, coaches and other parents told me that wrestling boosts kids’ self-confidence, teaches them the value of hard work and persistence, and keeps kids active and physically fit. It’s an incredible workout. As a parent, I’ve seen the way wrestling has helped my kids become more emotionally mature. It helps them learn to keep their cool under pressure, which I hope will be valuable to them as they grow up and find themselves in stressful situations at school and in life. And whether they win or lose, they learn the importance of being a good sport. I’ve loved seeing them befriend their opponents over the years.

I don’t know whether my kids will stick with the sport. Even if they don’t, I can see they’ve benefitted from it immensely already.

What you think it will take for wrestling to succeed and prosper and become a major headline sport

I’m not much of a sports fan these days, though I was as a kid. Don’t know that I’m qualified to answer this. I do know that many parents I talk to think that wrestling is too intense for their young kids, or that it’s too violent. It’s also a big time commitment. I think so often as parents, we try to shield our kids from harm, or from situations where they’re taking physical risks, or getting in a little over their heads. I think that can be a tough instinct to overcome. Wrestling is definitely an intense, difficult sport. But I know it’s helping my kids learn physical and mental toughness, and how to defend themselves. Which is invaluable. And they’re having fun, at least so far!

That doesn’t really answer your question about wrestling becoming “a major headline sport” in the short-term. It’s more of a long-term answer — I think youth participation does affect a sport’s popularity. I’m thinking particularly about football. I know youth numbers are declining because parents are wary of concussions. I don’t want my kids to play football for that reason, but I’m happy to have them wrestle.

Where can people pick up a copy of the original article/where is your mag available

Kids VT is available for free at more than 700 locations around northern and central Vermont — we don’t go much farther south than Rutland. This issue will be available until April 3. It’s also online at kidsvt.com.